Hostage of Time (Beacons of Time Book 1)

by E. D. Cask

  Sergei was frustrated with Duumai. It could keep track of every piece of research and where each project was, but Sergei was getting overwhelmed. He kept on thinking of new ways to tackle the problems, forgetting what they were talking about at the moment.

  “Duumai, what about jamming those lights?”

  Yes, that might be possible, but you need to make a decision about the power requirements for the shields. Manufacturing is waiting on that.

  “What is optimum shield configuration for kinetic energy and how long should we to stop them for? Not for long, da?”

  Correct. Eighty-seven seconds should be sufficient.

  “Since kinetic weapons are a discrete mass, can we focus all of the shield energy on the opposing mass? The shield doesn’t need to be continuous like it does for beams.”

  Calculating.

  “Back to jamming their comms.”

  We also need to decide on priorities for manufacturing.

  “Yes, yes. We need optimum output. Can you figure that out?”

  Humans like to make decisions.

  “There are too many decisions to be made here. Make some of your own.”

  How many choices would you like to make?

  Sergei groaned, “You decide.”

  Larry poked his head into the room, “Hey, Sergei, can I get you anything? Need any help?”

  Sergei felt bad, that he had ignored Larry’s offer for help earlier.

  “There are so many decisions to make, it is too much.”

  Larry stepped into the room, “What kind of decisions?”

  “Manufacturing. Duumai wants me to think about everything,” Sergei sighed.

  Larry smiled, “Cool. I used to design and build plastic models of spaceships and mechs.”

  Sergei frowned, “Why did you not tell me this before?”

  Larry shrugged, “You didn’t ask.”

  “Yes, yes, I am stupid. Larry, can you please help me?”

  Larry brightened and grinned, “Sure. What do we need to do?” He sat down.

  Sergei showed him the list of manufacturing priorities and constraints. “We need to get as many ships and bots built in less than a week. Only build what we need. We don’t need supplies in the ships; that kind of thing. Yes?”

  Larry nodded, “No problem, I can handle it.” He went over to the other side of the room and started looking at the lists and talking to Duumai.

  Sergei watched him for a few seconds and nodded his head. He felt better. He was part of a team, a clan. He had forgotten about teamwork.

  “Duumai, what about the light comms? Can we modify the beams to only shoot non-lethal light and somehow jam the comms of the Svarmo?”

  Possible. The wavelength could be fluctuated and the beams would pulse in random patterns. That would require the AIs to sort or even discard all of the input.

  “Good. Have we found out wavelength on that one beam from the Natix, yet?”

  After some investigation, we have found the ship and studied the components. The manufactured ruby had a slight flaw. Manufacturing is currently trying to replicate this flaw.

  “Good. Good. Did you calculate the mass of these Svarmo ships?”

  Yes, taking size and possible composition as well as speed and destruction of known quantities, we have estimated that the average Svarmo ship is 18,143.6948 metric tons.

  Sergei laughed, “That is a very specific average. Why don’t we round up to 20,000? I was thinking about what to do if any of these things get through the trap. Can we manufacture a kinetic weapon of our own? It would just need to be a big bullet, maybe. When the two masses collide…boom.”

  We do not have manufacturing capabilities for more ships.

  “This could be land or moon based. In fact, would be better. We just need a way to launch them. You do not have gunpowder do you?”

  No, we can use magnetic rails to launch. This could reach speeds up to 8575.308 kilometers per hour.

  “Good. Then the mass wouldn’t have to be as much as the Svarmo and the density would be higher, so it would smash the ship to little pieces. Can we build a test platform for this up on the surface?”

  Yes, we can build a scale model tomorrow.

  Sergei clapped his hands and walked over to Larry, “How is it going over here?”

  Larry nodded, “We are making progress. I think we will be able to get over 100 saucers and at least 200 fighter bots ready in time.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Finale

  Preparations continued. Josh tried to keep the Natix and his guys apart. He let the Lytix and Duumai handle most of the communication. Even if the Lytix somehow caused an insult, and he didn’t see how that would be possible, they wouldn’t care about honor. They would just dismiss the challenge. His guys—-he had started thinking of all of the Ducks as his guys—-his guys would care and could easily do something stupid.

  The Earth teams found some large caverns in a temperate zone and were busily moving supplies and manufacturing bots there. The bots prepared dwellings and all of the necessities of life. The only difference; they didn't install any tech. They could add that later, but for now, with the Svarmo homing in on the tech, they needed to be totally no-tech. This was going to be a major problem for the Natix; they would have to learn a lot. Josh sighed and figured that it was someone else’s problem right now. He needed to make sure the defenses were ready.

  Sergei made amazing strides with Duumai on the beacons. They had figured out a way to install the beacons on upgraded battle bots. The bots didn’t need to power beams and the shields only had to hold long enough to get the Svarmo into the star. So they worked on stripping out every non-essential piece of tech in a typical bot. They were also modifying the now non-lethal beams to mess with the Svarmo comms. They had integrated the light signature that seemed to cause pain or discomfort to the Svarmo as well as nonsense static. They were essentially jamming the light comms of the Svarmo.

  They shared this piece of tech with the Natix, who were suspicious of anything non-lethal in battle. Josh shrugged. They didn’t have to use it; their choice. Duumai had also worked on a modification of the shields that worked against kinetic energy more effectively. Most shields were designed to deflect energy beams, but were less effective at kinetic energy, because kinetic energy took a lot of mass to support it. Every bullet or missile or mass of any sort had to come from somewhere and the Natix didn’t have an endless supply of mass. They spent most of their time in the dark of space, far away from planets and any mining potential.

  Sergei invented, or reinvented, in this case, smart bombs. They were the same as had been used on earth in their time for defense. It was a moon-based last defense system. It would target the Svarmo with a kinetic missile that they hoped would destroy the Svarmo rock. Sam called it the Iron Dome, based on old news stories he had read.

  Josh had finally been allowed to visit the manufacturing plant, which was pretty amazing. There was a mining section, where the Moon was carefully being tunneled out. Then the ore was smelted and used to create every different component available. The shipments of Io, a metal he had never heard of, was the foundation for all their manufacturing. It was a nanobot metallic liquid matrix that could be formed into any shape. The shells of the ships were formed by a type of titanium and the components were placed inside. The last step was the tank of Io. Once given an instruction, it formed the rest of the inner surfaces in the ship.

  The fighter bots didn’t need as much plasticity inside, so they were built in a more conventional manner, although faster than he had ever seen. It was too fast to follow. The manufacturing bots flew through the tasks. In mere moments the skeleton of the fighter bot grew into a completed fighter, moved off and a new shell moved into place.

  When Duumai informed Josh that mining the metal components was the weak link in the chain, Sergei suggested pulling back the broken pieces of ships from their previous battle. Josh didn’t want to do that, but realized that it was necessary. They pulled
the bodies that they found out of the ships and buried them on Earth. It was a ceremony that Josh didn’t want to repeat. He returned to the moon with renewed vigor.

  Finally the week was up and the bots were ready. They had been sending ships and bots out in waves of ten. They had been able to make and rebuild 234 fighter bots, plus the ships that had been built and reworked which added up to 178 saucers.

  All of the humans gathered in the holo room along with several Lytix. Master Ku was also there. The Ducks were buzzing and speculating about what would happen. The Lytix stood there calmly and patiently. The vid was up showing deep space. Sergei had warned against fighting in waves, which might allow the Svarmo to adapt. The later bots and ships had burned rubber, as someone said to the confusion of the Lytix. As an additional layer of defense, some of the Natix were also several thousand miles behind the line, ready to destroy any Svarmo ships that survived. They refused to be left out of the fight. The rest of the Natix were circled around Earth, as a last resort. And the defenses of the moon were as ready as possible. Josh knew that Sergei wanted to try his Iron Dome, but also wasn’t too excited to really test it.

  Dots of blue started to appear on the screen as the long range scanners picked up the first contact.

  “There they are,” someone yelled. The Lytix looked at him and frowned.

  Josh was hoping that fighting them this far away from the sun would weaken them a bit, but they had probably been storing energy for months.

  The Lytix fighters and bots formed a sort of wall, equidistantly four kilometers away from each other.

  The Svarmo followed their standard practice of waiting until all ships formed up and then started speeding up. They all stayed together, which was good.

  “Duumai, what is the size of their battle group? Specifically the length?” Josh asked.

  It is seven kilometers long.

  “Sergei, I hope those comm beams really mess them up.”

  Sergei shrugged, not wanting to look away from the vid. The dots were beginning to converge. There were several battle feeds coming from ships on the line. The beams began lancing out and causing confusion. The first Svarmo ships started moving erratically and even crashing into each other. Some reversed course and headed away. This worked for about ten seconds, then order was restored from back to front.

  “They scrambled their codes,” Sergei murmured.

  Now the defenders switched to the specific light beam that seemed to irritate the Svarmo and that caused them to move around to avoid the beams. As the enemy got closer the wall collapsed. Sergei had noticed in the Natix vids that they always punched through the middle first and then turned back for stragglers. This would allow the bots to form a cone that would overlap a bit, but capture the maximum amount of ships possible.

  The modified shields looked like they were holding for the moment. The cone formed around the enemy ships and then came actual contact. Ships started disappearing, but there were no explosions. Josh looked at Sergei who looked relieved.

  “We calculated the last possible moment to destruction. If the optimum parameters are not reached, the space field is supposed to activate 53 seconds before hull breach. That should give most of them time enough to move to the center of Alpha Centauri. Even after hull breach there are good chances that the beacon is still viable,” Sergei said.

  “Look,” Sam pointed out. One of the vid feeds that had gone offline was back, showing deep space for a moment before going back offline.

  “It moved further away. The transmission is taking longer to reach us.”

  The vid feed showed a sun and then went offline again. There were cheers from the humans and nods from the Lytix. The system worked.

  Josh slapped Sergei on the back, “Way to go, you mad scientist.”

  In minutes all the feeds were dead. There were tense moments as the teams waited for reports from the Natix.

  Long range sensors show most of the enemy ships are gone.

  There were shouts and cheers as Duumai continued.

  Over 97.65% of the enemy fleet is missing. The Natix will destroy the rest.

  Josh cautioned everyone, “It’s not over guys. We can’t be sure that the Natix can destroy even this small number. And we won’t know right away whether all of the rest of the ships are actually destroyed. Some may have still escaped, but are light years away.”

  They waited tensely for reports from the Natix to come in. The Natix were not allowing them to listen into their battle comms, so they could only wait.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Loss

  Ab stood with her commanders on the bridge watching the dreaded enemy wink out of existence.

  “How are they doing this?” Stelokap Brilajn asked.

  “We need this tech,” another added.

  “We are grateful for the help. We still need to finish this battle,” Ab murmured.

  Hundreds of Svarmo vessels still heading this way. Moving to intercept.

  The comms picked up the battle communications from the lead group. Ab and her group were positioned around the moon and earth. The holo showed the bright green dots of the Natix ships and the violet blue of the Svarmo converging.

  Deploying jamming signals and increasing kinetic shield strength.

  Ab tensed as the dots continued to converge. There were also battle feeds from many ships in the lead group. They all showed the Svarmo ships growing larger.

  Jamming seems to be slowing them down. They aren’t able to coordinate anymore.

  Cheers erupted from several ships and from many on the bridge. Ab didn’t cheer. She sensed the danger increasing for her people. They were going to lose many. If only she had come back to this galaxy in peace, she could have avoided a useless battle and had more time to prepare for this ultimate challenge.

  Kinetic shield slowed it down. High intensity beam is also slowing it. Hull breach, hull breach in sector three. Power—

  Ab felt lives being lost. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was the hardest part of the battle for her, sensing lives being snuffed out. In this first wave of Natix meeting Svarmo, it didn’t appear all lives had been lost. The space suits were keeping some alive. If there were enough surviving ships out there, they would be able to rescue the survivors floating in the wreckage. The survivors knew to stay dormant and not send any signals out until the message was sent that the battle was over. The Svarmo typically tracked down all live tech to destroy it. In battle before, the Natix had been forced to flee, leaving any survivors behind. Tears formed in her eyes as she mourned the loss of lives over the years to these bots or whatever they were.

  The Svarmo were tearing through ship after ship, but contact with the nuclear core of each ship killed or disabled the enemy making it almost a one for one loss.

  “Amiko, what are the numbers?”

  The enemy ships are fewer than our numbers. At this rate of loss, we will have 57 ships left.

  There was a cheer through the bridge. Ab grimaced. They would survive, but barely. The enemy was devastating their fleet. It would take years to rebuild. The reports of contact and hull breaches kept coming in. Ab kept being conscious of the pain and loss of life over the distance. She was intimately connected to her people, even ones she hadn’t met before and could understand their strong emotions. It was overwhelming. She quietly left the bridge and sat down in her meditation room. Placing her fingers on her head to dull the pain, she tried to focus on Josh instead. She could sense joy and relief from that direction. She breathed deeply, soaking in that spirit, but the pain of her own people kept returning. There were people in agony and she couldn’t do anything about it. She broke down sobbing.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Mop up

  The battle was over. Three Svarmo ships had escaped from the star mission bubbles, but had been destroyed by the Iron Dome. Two others hit the Earth defenses and killed and disabled a few more ships before being destroyed. Despite their losses, the Natix were elated with the res
ult. They wouldn’t have to run anymore. They had lost most of their fleet, but the remaining ships from the vanguard had been able to pick up hundreds of survivors in the wreckage.

  Ab called Josh to her rooms the next day. She looked tired and upset.

  “What’s wrong? We won the war. Are you okay?” Josh asked.

  “I sense each loss of life deeply. Your emotions are helping me, but I can still feel the pain.”

  Josh reached out and hugged her. They stood there for a long time. Josh began wondering how long this was going to last when she pulled away.

  “I felt that, but thank you.”

  Josh blushed. It was difficult having a girlfriend who could almost read his mind. He would need to work on masking his emotions.

  Ab poked him in the chest. “You need to go to your ship. There are no more excuses. The war is over and they need to see you.” He started to object, but she stopped him. “You must. I will come with you.”

  When they stepped off of the shuttle into the airlock, Josh could hear chanting. He steeled his nerve and prepared.

  Ab gripped his arm and whispered, “They need to celebrate you. This is our way. Please seem to be a champion. If you look weak, you will invite more challenges.”

  Josh felt the pit of his stomach flutter. He didn’t want to go through that again. His face hardened and he walked through the portal. There were banners and other decorations. The largest banner had a picture of Josh killing Galaknovo. Josh quickly looked away. Ton came up to him and bowed.

  “Welcome, Stelokap Soanes. We greet you to your new ship and station. Let me introduce you to your team.”

  He started introducing the XO and others in the command structure. Once again, Josh was bewildered by the flourish of names and titles. Everyone chose their own surnames, so there were some wild ones like Stelodestruanto which meant Star-killer. Josh tried to look strong and powerful, but it was exhausting. Finally he was shown to his new rooms. He invited Ab to join him. He saw the looks of pleasure and pride that she elicited from the people.